Part 2
Romans 7:5"For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death."
Romans 7:13"But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good (the law), so that sin through the law might become exceedingly sinful."
Romans 7:21-22"I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man."
Evil is present with the one who delights in the law of God and wills to do good. Does that ring true for you? It should, because God arranged you under this experience. (Paul refers to it as the body of death in Romans 7:24, and becoming a Christian doesn't make it go away, as all our lives attest to.)
I can't encourage you enough, by the grace of God, to let the above texts (and all of Romans 7) sink in, now that you know what the law means, because a Spirit informed understanding of the law enables you to recognize the counsel of today's Christianity/Catholicism regarding how to become a Christian, and live like one doesn't empower you, it reveals your sin AND gives it strength.
(Note: When the Spirit reveals you've been living under/according to the law for righteousness (Moses), you'll begin to recognize its deep-rooted, insidious presence in your thinking and beliefs, and how it animates our pretense, as shown by our self-righteous judging of others for their limitations and sins, and the excusing of ourselves for ours.)
Now, through my understanding of God's word, my experience, and witnessing the experience of others, I see two primary ways living according to the law (which is synonymous with "according to the flesh,") surfaces in our behavior:
- A consistent, unwanted expression of the works of the flesh (lust, pride, pretense, lack of self-control, dishonesty, jealousy, selfishness, intolerance etc. Galatians 5:22) resulting in self-condemnation, and hamster wheel frustration in our attempts to overcome them. (I have expertise in this matter.)
- Condemning (judging) others for having the same struggle. (I'm an expert here as well.)
Our attachment to the idea that the experience of God's favor/blessing depends on us is an artifact of human nature - separate from God's nature - and leads to practicing sin, and condemning others for doing the same. (This is why Christians are widely (and rightly) known as hypocrites. Romans 2:24)
Our steadfast embrace of "if you believe" and "if you do the right thing" as conditions to living a life worthy of the Lord, and experiencing His favor in our day to day affairs, doesn't prove our faith, it exposes our sin/self-righteousness, hypocrisy, and pretense.
Let's face it, Christians behave no differently than anyone else when it comes to expressing idolatry, arrogance, intolerance, hypocrisy, and the like. Self-righteousness, deceit, sexual immorality, and greed are everywhere in the church. For example: Many of our leaders and institutions are worth absurd amounts of money. The Vatican is worth 30 billion...the Mormon church 100 billion...multi-millionaire Christian teachers and pastors are wearing $50,000 watches and $5000 running shoes (sorry Mike Todd)...all due to soliciting and manipulating donations from their followers, and the infrastructure guaranteeing the extortion continues cannot be questioned. Then there's the Catholic priest disgrace, which in large part goes hand in hand with teaching the requirement to confess to a priest, do penance for sin, take mass every Sunday, etc., for the express purpose of securing, and then remaining under God's favor. Catholics teach the law for righteousness, and the law for righteousness is the source of unbridled lust that gives rise to the sexual abuse, deviance, and deceit.
Beyond all dispute, "the law for righteousness" is at the heart of Catholic/Christian counsel, and the law is the strength of sin!. (Are you beginning to connect the dots?)
When you teach people what they have to do to be right with God, and stay right with God, sin and hypocrisy abound, not grace.